Before summer break, I flew to Caleb's university to surprise him. Instead, I found his sophomore lab mate clinging to him, asking who was prettier—her or me. Caleb gave a careless, distracted laugh: "Maya, of course. She's way prettier than you." The girl's face immediately fell. I pushed the door open, just in time to see Caleb resting his hand affectionately on top of her head. "Are you going to cry over that? Maya isn't just pretty, she's fiercely independent," he smiled. "Not like you. Without me, you're just a helpless little mess." 01 The girl's whiny voice drifted from the lab: "You're always bullying me! I'm not a helpless mess!" Caleb chuckled softly. But as he looked up, he froze, seeing me standing in the doorway. "Maya?" His hand was still resting on her hair as he called my name. He quickly walked over to me. "What are you doing here? Are your finals over?" "So I shouldn't have come?" I asked. He laughed. "What are you talking about?" He waved toward the room. "I'm heading out, Harper. You finish the rest of the project yourself. My girl is here." No sound came from inside. Caleb wrapped his arm around my shoulder and led me out into the hall. "Who was that?" "Harper Hayes. Just a sophomore in my department." I stopped in my tracks. I knew that name. For the past year, that name had been coming up a lot. Even though I had never met her. "Do you like her?" He looked completely baffled and laughed. "What? How is that possible? She's just a kid." He looked at me, amused. "You're getting jealous over this? My Maya is such a jealousy jar." "Caleb..." "The guys and I planned a get-together tonight. It'll be a welcome party for you," he interrupted, looking down to text his friends before looking back up. "Let me look at you. Did you lose weight? Are you secretly dieting again? I told you, one hundred and twenty pounds is perfect. Are you trying to turn into a walking stick so I can use you as a cane?" I took a deep breath. "Right now, I'd like to take a cane and beat you to death with it." He laughed, pulling me in for a kiss. Just then, a delicate voice called out from behind us: "Caleb." 02 Caleb and I turned our heads at the same time. Harper was holding a jacket in her hands. "You left your windbreaker at my place again," she pouted. "You're always so forgetful." "Oh," Caleb took it. "And who is this?" She turned to me, blinking innocently as she looked me up and down. "You see your senior's girlfriend and you don't even say hi?" Caleb chuckled, lightly tapping her head with a rolled-up notebook. "Ouch! Why do you keep hitting me?! You're so violent! I thought she was one of the older girls from our campus. Isn't this lab building restricted to authorized students only? Did you secretly copy a key for her, Caleb? I'm telling Professor Miller!" Caleb finally realized the situation and asked me, "Wait, how did you get into the building?" "I tailgated some guy," I said flatly. I looked at him. "Half an hour ago, I texted asking where you were. You didn't reply, and you didn't answer my calls." Caleb frowned. "Huh?" "I'm so sorry," Harper smiled apologetically. "Caleb and I were right in the middle of a critical derivation for our project, so he probably didn't see it. Please don't be mad at him over this. The pressure Professor Miller has been putting on us lately is just too much..." "That's weird," Caleb pulled out his phone. "Hey? Why is it on Do Not Disturb?" He muttered while adjusting the settings: "Must have bumped it in my pocket." "Whatever. Let's go." I turned around. But the moment I turned, I heard Harper's tiny voice from behind. "She looks so plain... it's obviously all makeup..." 03 I stopped walking and turned back. Caleb looked confused. "What's wrong?" I looked directly at Harper. "I'm not deaf. First, whether I look plain or not, you have zero right to gossip about it behind my back. Second, any woman with a shred of self-respect wouldn't try to compare her looks to another guy's girlfriend when she knows he's taken." Harper froze. Her eyes instantly turned red, and she looked at Caleb with extreme grievance. Caleb sighed. "Maya, what are you doing? I didn't see your message. If you want to fight, fight with me. Don't bully the younger girl." I turned to him. "Oh, you're defending her pretty fast. It makes me look like an unreasonable villain. I'm no forgiving saint. I cannot tolerate my boyfriend ignoring his phone for thirty minutes to keep another woman company, leaving me standing in ninety-degree heat on campus. I don't care about the precious doors of your lab, and I won't ever step foot in here again. And 'Do Not Disturb' requires actual swiping to activate; you don't just bump it." Caleb's face stiffened. "What do you mean by that? I seriously don't know how it got turned on. Why would I intentionally silence your notifications?" "Are you misunderstanding something..." Harper looked pitiful. I said coldly, "Don't put on that tragic act for me. Whether I misunderstood or not, you know exactly what you're doing in your heart." The air was quiet for a moment. "Come on, why are we getting so serious?" Caleb pulled me into his arms, laughing like a peacemaker. "Harper couldn't solve a problem earlier and used my phone to listen to Spotify, but how could she possibly mute you? You can be paranoid, but you can't blame her. I probably just shoved it in my pocket and the screen was unlocked..." "Caleb, let's break up." I heard my own voice. Caleb froze. "Wait, you flew all the way across the country, and just because I missed your text, you want to break up with me?" He sounded almost amused by his own anger. "You also touched her head." "That's it?" His eyes widened. "Yeah." I said flatly, "I find it disgusting. Is that not enough?" 04 I didn't go to the welcome dinner that night. After telling Caleb we were done, I turned and walked away. He didn't chase after me. Because Harper started crying. She was sobbing, gasping for air, looking incredibly fragile. Caleb was actually very good at handling people. Very good at coaxing them. When he wanted to be. My best friend from high school, Riley, went to the same university as him. I dropped my luggage at her dorm first. Hearing I hadn't eaten, she insisted on taking me to a newly opened, viral restaurant. When we got to the mall, Riley went to the restroom first. I sat by the restaurant entrance, looking at the menu while waiting for a table. As fate would have it, Caleb had booked the exact same place. A loud group of guys walked right past me. "Caleb, didn't you say your girl was coming? Where is she?" "Throwing a tantrum. She's not coming," Caleb's tone was helpless. "What happened?" "Mad that I didn't text back fast enough." "That's it?" The guy laughed. "Women are such a hassle. Thank God you're doing long-distance. If you had to deal with that every day, who could survive?" "Women are all like this. They just want to be coaxed," another guy joked. "Just get on your knees and beg a little, you'll be fine." "Beg? Why don't you go beg?" Caleb used his folded umbrella to swat the guy. "Giving her the cold shoulder is good for her. These past three years, her temper has only gotten worse." I looked up. The umbrella was pink and compact. It was definitely not a style a guy would use. Trailing right behind him, empty-handed, was Harper: "Honestly, I don't think you did anything wrong, Caleb. If you're not wrong, why should you apologize first? It's not about who gets mad, it's about logic..." I stood up. Riley came back just in time: "Is it our turn?" I shook my head. "Almost. Caleb is inside." "Huh?" Riley hesitated. "Should we go somewhere else?" "No need." The restaurant is open to the public. There's no rule saying I can't eat here just because he is. Five minutes later, our table was ready. Riley and I walked in, but right by the self-serve beverage station, someone suddenly rushed at us, screaming. "Oh no, I can't hold it, move, move..." Before I could react. I was splashed head to toe by Harper, who was carrying two massive glasses of craft beer. 05 The commotion alerted the people in the private booths. By the time Caleb came out, Harper's tears were falling one by one. "I really didn't mean to. The floor by the drinks station is slippery, I couldn't stop myself. I already said I'm sorry..." "You didn't mean it?" Riley was furious. "In a place this big, you carry two huge glasses of beer and walk straight into Maya? Maya couldn't even dodge. Do you think we're blind?" "What happened?" Caleb stepped out. He paused when he saw me. "Why are you here?" I was soaked, covered in sticky beer, and completely out of patience. "Why? Did Mr. Sterling buy this whole property? Am I banned from anywhere you go?" He frowned. "Why are you firing off like a machine gun? Who said you couldn't be here?" He stepped closer. "Why are you all wet?" Riley sneered. "Why don't you ask your precious junior?" "Caleb, I swear I didn't do it on purpose! My foot slipped!" Harper cried. "I didn't expect anyone to be standing there. Why did she suddenly pop out of nowhere..." Caleb sighed. "I told you that you couldn't handle the heavy lifting, but you insisted. Why were you carrying two massive glasses anyway? You should've just let me do it." "Have you no shame?!" Riley erupted. "What do you mean she popped out of nowhere? We were walking perfectly fine. She clearly rammed into her on purpose!" "Riley, watch your mouth," Caleb said coldly. "What's your problem?" My temper flared. "Riley is defending me. Whether she did it on purpose or not, she knows it in her heart. You didn't even ask what happened and you're immediately taking her side? Are we not using logic anymore?" "How am I taking her side? I'm trying to be reasonable here." His tone was exasperated. "Maya, take your anger out on me all you want, but she didn't do it on purpose. Can you stop nitpicking and making things difficult for her?" I quietly stared at the man in front of me. We met in high school, knew each other for six years, and survived three years of long distance. In just one more year, I was supposed to get early admission to his university's grad program. We had dreamed about marriage, painted pictures of our future, even talked about what our kids would look like. Yet now, after I was splashed with beer, with my dress literally dripping onto the floor, he was telling me to stop making things difficult for another woman. "I'm not making things difficult," I said flatly. "My dress is ruined. It wasn't expensive, maybe two hundred bucks. If she pays me back, we can call it even." Harper froze. "Two hundred dollars is half my monthly grocery budget..." She looked at Caleb with red eyes. "Caleb, my dad will kill me..." "Oh, it's fine, it's fine." One of the guys backed her up. "Don't be scared, we can all chip in to cover it. It's just two hundred bucks!" "Yeah, if we all pitch in twenty bucks, we've got it. Don't cry, okay?" Caleb frowned. "Maya, Harper doesn't come from a wealthy family. Two hundred dollars is a big deal to her. It's just a dress. Let it go, okay? I'll buy you a new one." I sneered. "If she knows it's a big deal, she should have been more careful. It's my dress, and I have the right to demand compensation." "It's not really your dress, though," Caleb suddenly said. I froze. "Maya, if I remember correctly, I bought that dress for you." His voice was light, but every single word felt like a knife plunging into my chest. "Gifts given during a relationship can be legally taken back. "So let's drop this. If you insist on pursuing it..." He paused, seemingly giving me a final chance to repent. "Then give the dress back to me." 06 I quietly met his gaze. A second later, I turned, grabbed Riley—who was about to start screaming at him—and walked out of the restaurant. "Maya, how could you just walk away?!" Riley was fuming the whole way. "Did Caleb get kicked in the head by a donkey? He doesn't care about you at all! How could he say something so disgusting to you?!" My footsteps halted. "Maya?" Riley looked at me with concern. "If you want to cry, just cry..." I shook my head. "I'm fine." Afterward, I went to Riley's dorm, took a shower, changed my clothes, and dropped the dirty dress off at the front desk of Caleb's dorm building. Then, I went straight to the bus station. It was too late to book a flight or an express train, so my only option was an overnight Greyhound bus to get home. The overnight bus was loud. Babies crying, people arguing, mixed with the smell of cheap fast food. Caleb's messages came through right then. "What kind of temper tantrum is this? Did you really think I'd make you return the clothes?" "I just felt you shouldn't have been so aggressive. There were so many people from my department there. I can't just throw all logic out the window and blindly side with my girlfriend." "I ordered the exact same dress online and had it delivered to Riley's dorm. Go downstairs and get it." He sent more messages, but the screen was covered in water. My eyes were covered in water. I couldn't see clearly. And I didn't want to. I tapped the screen and blocked his number. When I woke up, it was 2 AM. My eyes hurt. My head hurt. The lights outside flickered, and the bus had quieted down. I suddenly remembered another time I took an overnight trip like this. It was also with Caleb. It was our sophomore year of high school. We went out of state for an English debate tournament. Tickets back were hard to get. The chaperone talked to our parents and let Caleb and me take an earlier bus back together. That night, I dozed off. When I woke up, I realized I had somehow ended up resting my head on his shoulder. I was mortified and quickly apologized. He just looked at me, smiled, and asked, "Having a good dream?" I shook my head. "Well, I was," he smiled. "It was a great dream. You should keep leaning on me, so I can go back to it." After that, we slowly grew closer. He was handsome, outgoing, and every time he played basketball, a crowd of girls would bring him water and cheer for him. Sometimes I would go watch for a bit, always standing in the back. Until one day, as I was leaving, I heard someone calling me from the court. "Maya Vance!" I froze, turned around, and saw Caleb jumping over the crowded bleachers, smiling at me. "Watch me!" A clean dribble, a fake-out, a perfect three-pointer. The crowd went wild. After the game, he asked me why I never stayed until the end. "Too many people. I can't squeeze to the front." "That's easy. Next time, I'll have them save you a seat." The next time I went, I was indeed escorted to a seat in the very front row. "Caleb specifically saved this for you," the guy who brought me there winked. At halftime, a bunch of girls rushed the court to hand him water. He waved them off and walked straight to me. "Where's my water?" Me: "Huh?" He rolled his eyes playfully, placing a hand on my head: "Ms. Vance, there is no free lunch in this world. You admired my heroic posture all game, and you don't even have a bottle of water for me? I'm heartbroken." Eventually, the water delivery evolved, and he requested to change seats so he could sit right in front of me in class. The day we submitted our college applications, he cornered me at the classroom door. "What are you thinking about?" "Thinking about what?" He looked like he was laughing out of frustration. "Do you think I just love twisting my neck to look backward, or that I'm just bored? Maya, even the ants on the ground know how I feel about you." My face burned hot. "But we didn't get into the same college..." "Wow, you can actually say something so irresponsible?" He pulled me into a hug, staring at me. "Distance isn't the problem. I'm just asking you one thing: Do you like me?" The setting sun spilled into the classroom, illuminating our faces. I blushed and nodded. That day, when a very light, gentle kiss landed, I felt like I was the luckiest person in the world.
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